Donna Summer was born as LaDonna Adrian Gaines on December 31, 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA and died May 17, 2012 from lung cancer. She did not smoke.

She is survived by her husband Bruce Sudano and their adult daughters Brooklyn Sudano (born in 1981) and Amanda Sudano (b.1982), and Summer's first daughter, Natalia Pia Melanie Sommer (b.1973), from Donna's first marriage, to Helmuth Sommer.

She sang in many genres but was most known for her disco era hits. She won about three dozen awards; includes five Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, NAACP Image Award in 1980, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame awarded posthumously in 2013.